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July 2012

Cool & New

July 2012

July's roundup of Cool & New Books includes SERAPHINA by Rachel Hartman, the highly anticipated debut novel about a talented young musician who must discover who killed a member of the royal family and why; DIVA, the conclusion to Jillian Larkin's Flappers series, the story of three girls growing up in 1920s New York; and HIDE AND SEEK, the fourth book in Sara Shepard's The Lying Game series, in which Emma continues her search to find her sister Sutton’s murderer and figure out what exactly her parents are hiding.

Among the paperbacks releasing this month are THE POWER OF SIX, a continuation of Pittacus Lore’s Lorien Legacies series, and its companion, THE LOST FILES: THE LEGACIES; LOST IN TIME, the next-to-last Blue Bloods novel by Melissa de la Cruz, which shows what happens when Schuyler Van Alen and Jack Force attempt to find the mysterious Gate of Promise; and WHERE THINGS COME BACK, an award-winning book from debut novelist John Corey Whaley that introduces readers to a teen who is forced to examine everything he thinks he understands about his small and painfully dull Arkansas town.

Lexington Larrabee has never had to work a day in her life. Which is why, on Lexi’s 18th birthday, her ever-absent, tycoon father decides to take a more proactive approach to her wayward life. Every week for the next year, she will have to take on a different low-wage job if she ever wants to receive her beloved trust fund.

In this follow-up to THIRTEENTH CHILD, Patricia C. Wrede continues to explore an alternate western expansion of the United States full of magic, fantastical creatures and mystery. Something has been turning animals to stone, and it’s up to magical twins Eff and Lan Rothmer to stop the dangerous threat.

Haven Moore would like to believe that Adam Rosier and his sinister Ouroboros Society are a distant memory. But then her best friend, Beau Decker, disappears, and a cabal of women known as the Horae claim that Adam is responsible. The Horae have spent centuries scheming to destroy Adam. They tell Haven that she alone holds the clue to Beau's disappearance --- and they'll help her only if she promises to lure Adam into their clutches.

The summer before his senior year, Jude gets his first job, falls in love for the first time, and starts to break away from his parents. Jude’s house is kept dark, and no one talks much --- it’s been that way since his little sister drowned in a swimming pool seven years ago when Jude was supposed to be watching her. Now, Jude is finally starting to live. Really live. And then, life spins out of control. Again.

Lia sets out on a journey to find the remaining keys, locate the missing pages of the Prophecy, and convince her sister Alice to help --- or risk her life trying. Lia has her beloved Dimitri by her side, but Alice has James, the man who once loved her sister --- and maybe still does. James doesn't know the truth about either sister, or the prophecy that divides them. And Alice intends to keep it that way.

After a middle-school student from Da Vinci Academy gets caught trying to buy drugs, Alexander “Zander” Scott and his Cruiser friends are asked to intervene. Fourteen-year-old Sidney Aronofsky isn’t a typical druggie; he is a star pupil and a master chess player who could ruin his future if he doesn’t get help.

Miranda arrives in York with a terrible, tragic secret. She is eager to lose herself amid the quaint cobblestones, hoping she won’t run into the countless ghosts who supposedly roam the city. Then she meets Nick, an intense, dark-eyed boy who knows all of York’s hidden places and histories. Soon, Miranda realizes that something dangerous --- and deadly --- is being planned.

Parties, bad boys, speakeasies --- life in Manhattan has become a woozy blur for Clara Knowles. If Marcus Eastman truly loved her, how could he have fallen for another girl so quickly? Their romance mustn't have been as magical as Clara thought. And if she has to be unhappy, she's going to drag everyone else down to the depths of despair right along with her.

Eighteen-year-old Eve has never been beyond the heavily guarded perimeter of her school, where she and 200 other orphaned girls have been promised a future as the teachers and artists of the New America. But then, Eve learns the shocking truth about her school’s real purpose --- and the horrifying fate that awaits her. Fleeing the only home she’s ever known, Eve sets off on a long, treacherous journey, searching for a place she can survive.

Sixteen-year-old orphan Alenna Shawcross has failed a government-sponsored test and is banished to a mysterious island full of other potentially violent teenagers. Along with having to survive in the wild amidst rival tribes, Alenna will need to figure out whom to trust and ultimately find a way off the island.

Amelia and Riley, bad kids from bad Brookfield High, have transferred to Ashbury High for senior year. They've been love since they were fourteen, they go out dancing every night and sleep through school all day. But strange things are happening at Ashbury this year and the new kids are hiding a secret that could ruin more than just senior year.

For 13 years, Ben Tomlin was an only child. But all that changes when his mother brings home Zan --- an eight-day-old chimpanzee. Ben's father is a renowned behavioral scientist, and his latest project is to determine whether chimps can acquire advanced language skills. Ben slowly starts to treat Zan as a brother, but his father only sees him as an experiment. Soon Ben is forced to make the critical choice between what he is told to believe and what he knows to be true.

I AM NUMBER FOUR: THE LOST FILES: THE LEGACIES contains three action-packed novellas that give the heart-pounding backstories of some of your favorite Loriens. Originally published as the e-novellas SIX'S LEGACY, NINE'S LEGACY and THE FALLEN LEGACIES, now, for the first time ever, their backstories are together in one volume.

Welcome to a fairy tale world turned upside down! Once upon a time, there was a strung-out match girl who sold CDs to stoners. Twelve impetuous sisters escaped King Daddy’s clutches to jiggle and cavort and wear out their shoes. A fickle Thumbelina searched for a tiny husband, leaving bodies in her wake. And Little Red Riding Hood confessed that she kind of wanted to know what it’s like to be swallowed whole.

Melissa de la Cruz’s visionary vampire tale is an action-packed fantasy that revolves around Lucifer’s timeless campaign to cover the Earth in darkness. With the Dark Prince gathering his deadly Silverblood armies, the righteous Venator vampires are falling and being annihilated across the globe. This sixth installment is all about love and will leave de la Cruz’s fans eagerly awaiting the final volume.

When I was alive, my family seemed picture-perfect. My adoptive parents adored me, and my little sister, Laurel, copied my every move. But now that my long-lost twin, Emma, has taken my place to solve my murder, we’re both learning just how flawed my family really is.

Eve is being protected from the terrifying fate that awaits orphaned girls in The New America, but she was forced to abandon Caleb, the boy she loves. When Eve gets word that Caleb is in trouble, she sets out into the wild again to rescue him, only to be captured and brought to the City of Sand, the capital of The New America. Trapped inside the City walls, Eve uncovers a shocking secret about her past --- and is forced to confront the harsh reality of her future.

Kendra has always felt overshadowed by her older brother, Grayson, whose OCD forces him to live a life of carefully coordinated routines. Behind the wheel of her car, with Grayson asleep beside her, Kendra decides to drive away from it all. But eventually she must stop running and come to terms with herself, her brother, and her past.

The rich stew of the author's creations --- SingleEarth, vampires, shapeshifters, Tristes, the Bruja Guilds --- are at full boil here in the story of two 20-ish young women trying to outrun their very different pasts, and figure out where they fit in and who they might become. Each has landed in a more "normal" place, and each wonders if they can ever really fit into "normal."

John Smith is Number Four, and following a massive battle in Paradise, Ohio, he joined forces with Number Six. Their victory inspired a fellow Lorien named Marina, aka Number Seven, to step forward as well. She's been living in Spain following the news in Paradise, and is certain it's the sign she's been waiting for. The sign that the time is right for the remaining teens to come together, to fight the Mogadorians --- and to win. The fate of Lorien --- and Earth --- now rests in their hands.

At 7:45 a.m. on the day before Thanksgiving break, a bomb goes off at Edison High. Nine people die instantly. Fifteen are critically injured. Those who survive, struggle to cope with the loss and destruction. All must find new meaning for their lives as a result of something they may never understand.

Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. An unusually gifted musician, Seraphina joins the court just as a member of the royal family is murdered, and she's drawn into the investigation. All the while, she struggles to protect her own secret, the discovery of which could mean her very life.

It's senior year, and while Kenzie should be looking forward to prom and starting college in the fall, she discovers she's pregnant. Her determination to keep her baby is something her boyfriend and mother do not understand. So she is sent to Spain, where she will live out her pregnancy, and her baby will be adopted by a Spanish couple. Kenzie realizes she has some serious choices to make --- choices about life, love and home.

Lydia Bentley has heard stories about the Montauk Project: stories about the strange things that took place at the abandoned military base near her home and the people who've disappeared over the years. When Lydia stumbles into a portal that transports her to a dangerous and strange new reality, she discovers that all the stories she's ever heard about the Montauk Project are true --- and that she's in the middle of one of the most dangerous experiments in history.

Drew is a bit of a loner. She has a pet rat, her dead dad's Book of Lists, an encyclopedic knowledge of cheese, and a crush on Nick, the surf bum who works behind the counter. It's the summer before eighth grade, and Drew's days seem ordinary. Until one night after closing time, when she meets a strange boy in the alley.

Just because Mel lives in a city founded by vampires doesn't mean she knows any personally. Until the day a vampire shows up at her high school and Mel's best friend, Cathy, starts falling for him. On top of trying to help Cathy, Mel is investigating the disappearance of another friend. Soon, she finds herself hip-deep in an adventure that is equal parts hilarious and touching.

Fifteen-year-old Tiger Lily meets the alluring teenage Peter Pan in the forbidden woods of Neverland and immediately falls under his spell. Peter is unlike anyone she's ever known. Despite being an unthinkable match for her, soon Tiger Lily is risking everything --- her family, her future --- to be with him.

After parting ways with her troubled mermaid tribe, Luce is pulled back in by the pleas of the collapsing and desperate tribe in this second volume of the Lost Voices trilogy. The mermaid queen wants Luce dead, the boy Luce broke mermaid law to save is determined to make her pay for the murder of his family, and there is new evidence that humans now know that mermaids exist.

As Cullen navigates a summer of finding and losing love, holding his fragile family together, and muddling his way into adulthood, a young, disillusioned missionary in Africa searches for meaning wherever he can find it. Soon, these two seemingly-divergent stories are brought face-to-face.

Golden girl Hayes Anderson would never dream of leaving the Magnolia League or Savannah, where there's no problem that can't be fixed with a cup of Swamp Brew tea --- served in a bone china cup, of course --- and no boy who can't be won over with a Conjure Up a New Love spell. But when danger lurks and family secrets are unearthed, Hayes discovers that her life may not be charmed after all.